15 pots for DIY flowers and plants
1. Use yoghurt containers
Since we're talking about DIY, let's start by stressing that it's all about doing things cheap, using simple items that you can easily find at home or recycle, while cutting down on your budget as little as possible. Obviously the primary purpose of DIY is to create something original, that meets your needs and is born from your skills and creative ideas.
This first project fully meets these conditions; it consists in making small DIY jars from yoghurt containers; it is perhaps the simplest of the examples that we will show because it only involves the use of empty jars, which otherwise should be thrown away, with the only trick to decorate them as you like, using spray paints or applying stencils to them to embellish your creation. Let the paint or embroidery you have made dry, fill them with good soil and that's it! You can use them, for example, for small spices to keep at hand in the kitchen.
2. Vases with books
This project is simply wonderful! The idea is very original and if you love books, which are really beautiful objects, this use of them is really fascinating. Obviously you have to have some volumes of which you are not interested in the content, or decide to invest, maybe in your favorite novel, and turn it into a vase and then place it, as a piece of furniture, maybe right on your desk or bedside table. It could also be a great idea for a gift!
To create this do-it-yourself planter all you need to do is cut out a sufficient number of pages to insert, for example, a small succulent plant (perfect for this type of container because it requires little care and above all little water), and place a plastic sheet all around the cut space so as to prevent water and dirt from ruining the rest of the book.
3. Place a vase in a wooden box
Making a vase using a wooden box is a simple operation that will give you a very appreciable and naturally original result.
Making a vase using a wooden box is a simple operation that will give you a very appreciable and naturally original result. Thanks to their generous size these containers are able to accommodate more than a simple plant, so you can use them to transform your patio into a small garden where you can plant some fresh herbs or spices for cooking, or even some varieties of salad, or to create compositions of colorful flowers to be placed along the perimeter of the terrace or in the garden.
These wooden containers are perfect for plants to grow, they only need a few small tricks: a coat of specific impregnating agent, in order to protect the wood from the sun and heavy rains, and make sure that the water can drain from underneath by making a few small openings, if it is not already present, to prevent stagnation inside the planter creating mold dangerous to your plants.
4. Concrete vases
The concrete vases are really modern and very original and anyone of you can make them with a result that will be very elegant and very natural.
Wow! The concrete vases are really modern and very original and anyone of you can make them with a result that will be very elegant and very natural. Using old food containers, plastic or cardboard, like moulds, you can give your creations the most varied shapes; all you need is a mixture composed of one part concrete and four parts sand.
Fill a container with the mixture, then insert a smaller one (where you are going to place your seedling) and turn it upside down, leave it for a couple of days, finally make some holes with the drill for drainage. Once the large container has been removed, you'll find yourself with a beautiful DIY concrete pot, fill the remaining free space (that of the small container) with soil, and you're done!
5. Other concrete pots
The concrete vases are really modern and very original and anyone of you can make them with a result that will be very elegant and very natural.
If you like the idea of using cement for your pots, you can also add a note of colour using coloured cement powders, the result will be even more modern, perfect for a minimalist environment such as the bathroom where, by inserting these creations, you will create a really refined and suggestive atmosphere, a perfect combination between the natural element of plants and the design of your furniture.
6. In the wheelchair
This idea is really unique: a vase in an old pram? Who would have thought of that? The particularity of this planter is given by the complete extraneousness of the two elements that here are combined together; a pram is intended to transport children and not to grow plants, but through this type of arrangement your DIY vase is guaranteed success! A vintage taste, very fashionable, really perfect as a furnishing element and in addition the wheelchair has wheels and you can move your fantastic pot where you like inside your home.
7. Upside down
This type of DIY pots can be a very cool and cheap idea to decorate your home and give you a lovely green ceiling, but upside down plants can flower boxes? Yes, they can! Cans are perfect for this setup, for example coffee cans, with a plastic lid; once you've drilled the holes for drainage, turn the can upside down, fill it with a bit of soil and add the seedling.
The most complicated part comes now: to prevent the soil from escaping use a piece of sponge, the one to keep the moisture right in the jars, and cut it round to the size of the container with a hole in the center of the plant size, then insert it more or less in the middle of the can (this will stop the loam). Finally cut also the plastic lid, always in a circle, so that you can pass the plant, close the container and turn it upside down; and here is your pot upside down.
Obviously you can decorate your creation as you prefer and obtain the desired effect, perhaps following the shades of the room you have chosen to hang the vase.
8. Food containers
This type of setup is very suitable for planting spices and fresh herbs that will be useful in the kitchen, consists of making DIY jars from glass food containers, those that are used for example for salt or sugar, but also go very well jars of sauces or pickles, without the need to buy new ones. For a better effect you can think of hooking them to a panel, made of wood or plastic, placed on the wall, in this way you will have your herbs always ready to use and you won't have to sacrifice the space on the shelves of your kitchen.
9. The inevitable pallets
If you have a small terrace and you have run out of floor space, it is time to think about growing vertically. This unusual planter will allow you to cultivate many varieties of plants without occupying a large size, it is a matter of using a wooden pallet, those used for shipping, which you can recycle or find discarded at a company or a shop.
Arrange the pallet if it is ruined and add a wooden or fabric panel in correspondence of what will be the part of the structure resting on the wall, then choose the quality of your plants, may be flowering plants or some varieties of vegetables such as cucumbers or peppers, but also strawberries and place them in the natural holes of the pallet. If you opt for plants with cascading growth the effect will be really beautiful, the pallet will barely be noticed and you will get a real green wall.
10. Coffee jute bags
If you're not a big fan of traditional planters, these DIY vases are just for you! Making a vase using jute bags, coffee or rice bags are perfect, you will get really original and absolutely cheap containers; in addition you will meet the environment because they are made of entirely recycled and biodegradable materials.
To make them you will need very little time, just fill the bags with good soil and plant your small flowers or aromatic herbs, or perhaps greasy plants; these creations will give a natural touch to your decor, wherever you decide to place them.
11. Painted jars
If you have artistic skills you can choose to create your own DIY vases by painting old paint cans, which are perfect because they have a smooth surface. You can draw whatever you prefer, with soft or bright colors, adding rhinestones or beads, there are no limits to your imagination!
You can also glue coloured or pre-printed fabrics around the cans or use stencils; the only trick in the making is to drill holes for drainage before adding the soil and seedlings.
12. Reinvent the old ceramic vases
If you don't want to give up your old ceramic vases or maybe you have a lot of them available and want to give them a new look, this is the right idea; with a little paint, a chalk and shapes cut out from a card you can give new life to the old flower boxes. You can choose any shape for your paper model and inside the created surface you can simply write the name of the plant, or make a cadeau and write the name of the recipient.
13. DIY Metal
This is a slightly more expensive alternative than the ones we have seen so far: a vase made from a metal drinking trough. These kind of containers are designed to hold water so to make a planter you'll have to put holes in the bottom, the DIY work will end with this.
The result will be appreciable both because they are spacious containers, where you can plant various species of plants, and because the material of which they are made retains heat very well and for this reason they are perfect for the cultivation of some vegetables.
14. Brick pots
Another interesting project is to make small pots using simple constriction bricks; the old bricks that you probably already have at home and that you would otherwise have thrown away are perfect. The result is really natural and will create an original contrast between the brick and small elegant plants, such as succulent plants.
This material is very durable and if used it is even better because it brings a bit of history and personality, perfect for creating DIY pots to be placed inside the house or in the garden, maybe along the driveway or on the stairs that separate the lawn from the porch, but also as a centerpiece in the gazebo.
The only work you will have to do is to drill the usual drainage holes in the lower part and an upper hole of the right size for the installation, in this case being very careful and using a lot of delicacy because the tremors of the drill could break the brick. A nice addition, to make the creation even more original, is to apply a second hole where to place a small candle holder.
15. DIY recycled wood vases
The idea of using an old wooden box as a vase is not new, but it continues to amaze depending on the originality of the DIY work with which it can be set up. The vase in the image you see here, for example, is very interesting because its sides have been made and made really special using thin bundles of recycled wood in various shades, which makes it cheerful and playful.
Depending on their size, these vases can lend themselves very well to holding a small shrub like, for example, a lemon tree, but also another fruit tree, perhaps a columnar apple tree or a mini peach tree.